Cejanr (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

39

Rex sprinted out from behind cover and forward, sliding into a ditch a few feet ahead of him, grunting as his momentum slammed him forward to the wall of the ditch. He raised his 17s and fired off a few round, glancing worriedly at the rapidly setting sun.

They had been at this for hours. The worst part about the droids was that they never had to eat or sleep. For all the clones were smarter, they were at a severe disadvantage. Rex heard a sound behind him and turned to cover his flank, blasters raised. It was just one of his men, sliding into the poor cover next to him.

It was one of the kids, if his barely fitting armor was anything to go off of. Rex didn't lower his blasters, making the shiny raise his hands and begin to say something. Whatever it was was lost as Rex fired off a couple quick shots over his shoulder, missing him by a matter of inches and taking out four droids that had slipped passed the line.

"What are you doing, kid. Shinies are supposed to stay with their squads." Rex growled, his voice raspy from exertion and dust.

"My squad is dead." The shiny hissed. Rex turned more to face him, exposing the command wing on his left shoulder. The kid gulped. "Sir." He added meekly.

"Sir, they've overrun our starboard defenses. We're pulling back to the base to regroup. Reinforcements will be at your position soon. You're too evac back with the others and speak with Skywalker immediately." Dogma's voice crackled over his helmet comms.

"Affirmative. Salvage what's left of your forces, Lieutenant. It's been a bitter one." Rex ordered resignedly, setting back and fishing to grab one of the last droid poppers from his belt. One of the few advantages they had was that the crystalline ground was extremely conducive, making their EMPs much more effective.

He lobbed the orb over the wall of the ditch, feeling the pulse of electricity through the broken ground beneath them that made the hair on the back of his neck raise despite the plasoid insulating him.

"What's your name, kid." Rex asked the shiny as he scanned the skies, looking for the outline of the gunships among the smoke before daring to stand up to scan the area around him. The force twinged and he dropped down again as blaster bolts flew overhead.

"Howl." The kids said quietly, firing in the direction the bolts had come from. "I'm not a cadet anymore. I passed all my sims."

Another flicker of movement and pang in the force caught his attention. He grabbed Hawk by the arm and threw him down, instinctively shielding the kid as a mortar hit too close for comfort. The impact sending razor sharp shards of crystal spraying around them. Several got into the chinks of Rex's armor, slicing through his blacks and into the flesh beneath. He hissed in pain.

"I'm pretty sure they lowered the difficulty on those." Rex ground out as he sat back. Howl was staring up at him, the outline of his wide and scared eyes visible through his visor. Rex stomach twisted.

So young. Too young.

A familiar whine cut through the chaos around them, and Rex almost cried in relief. Gunships. One landed right in front of them, giving them cover. The side panel opened on the gunship and fresh troops from ghost company poured out. A medic in the ship stayed behind and glanced around, seeing the hunkered down troops and beckoning to the ship, yelling. His words were lost in the blaster fire.

Rex hauled the slightly shell shocked Howl to his feet and dragged him to the ship, firing at the droids that tried to approach the ship as he went.

Once Howl was in, he went back out and laid down cover fire as the rest of the troops around them ran to the ship. Some veterans, most shinies. All exhausted and in need of food and a little medical attention.